Keeping your computer up to date

Whether you use Windows or a Mac, it is very important to keep your computer up to date. Microsoft and Apple frequently release security updates to address recently-found vulnerabilities. Without those updates your computer is more susceptible to malware, regardless the state of your antivirus software.

Look for your operating system below for steps to manually check for updates.

Software Update will check for any new updates. If there are any available, click "Install" or "Install and Restart" (fig. 7).

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*Some computers install important updates completely automatically. Even if this is the case, it's still a good idea to manually check for updates about once a month. Some important updates can't be installed automatically.